Addendum I recommend the following steps in starting a home-based prayer group: There is a Scripture Study that you can use to start your prayer groups at home. You can use this Catholic Scripture Program to begin (undoubtedly there are other programs), but please carefully discern and visit the following website before you determine this is for you:http://www.cssprogram.net/. Fr. Mitch Pacwa also has several books that you can use for this purpose. I recommend beginning the prayer time by asking everyone to make a circle and placing a Catholic Crucifix, a white candle and a Holy Bible in the center of the prayer group. Once a leader has been selected, open with a prayer to the Holy Spirit and invite Our Lady and the Holy Spirit to be present in your home prayer group. You will then feel the presence of peace and holiness among you. Start with one Our Father, three Hail Mary’s and Glory be. The group may then follow with the rosary, share scriptures or simply have intercessory prayer and share. I believe it is very important to have group members take part in prayers, sharing, discussions or comments so that all can contribute and participate in the prayer meeting. There is no right or wrong way to hold a prayer meeting, and these are simply my personal suggestions. But please feel free to adapt the prayer meeting as needed for your personal prayer group. Just remember the basic guidelines Our Lady is asking of us: Always start by giving praise and glory to the Holy Trinity. Follow with the Rosary. Read Holy Scripture to one another. And above all, do not compromise the teachings and doctrine of your Catholic faith, even if non-Catholics are present. Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary St. Louis de Montfort, an 18th century French Roman Catholic priest, described the men and women of our time devoted to Jesus through the Blessed Mother as a truly remarkable people: "Such are the great men who are to come. By the will of God, Mary is to prepare them to extend His rule over the impious and unbelievers..... They will carry the crucifix in their right hand and the rosary in their left, and the holy names of Jesus and Mary on their heart." He was often fond of talking about the saints of the end times and their devotion to Jesus through Mary: "In this battle, those who follow God will conquer with one hand and build with the other. The saints of the end times will be formed by Mary in their devotion to her. She will shape them and teach them even as she formed the body of Our Lord in her womb." Along with praying the rosary daily, St. Louis de Montfort also recommended that the faithful consecrate themselves completely to Jesus through the Blessed Mother. The following is St. Louis de Montfort's Act of Consecration: Act of Consecration O ETERNAL and incarnate Wisdom! O sweetest and most adorable Jesus! True God and true man, only Son of the Eternal Father, and of Mary, always virgin! I adore Thee profoundly in the bosom and splendors of Thy Father during eternity; and I adore Thee also in the virginal bosom of Mary, Thy most worthy Mother, in the time of Thine incarnation. I give Thee thanks for that Thou hast annihilated Thyself, taking the form of a slave in order to rescue me from the cruel slavery of the devil. I praise and glorify Thee for that Thou hast been pleased to submit Thyself to Mary, Thy holy Mother, in all things, in order to make me Thy faithful slave through her. But, alas! Ungrateful and faithless as I have been, I have not kept the promises which I made so solemnly to Thee in my Baptism; I have not fulfilled my obligations; I do not deserve to be called Thy child, nor yet Thy slave; and as there is nothing in me which does not merit Thine anger and Thy repulse, I dare not come by myself before Thy most holy and august Majesty. It is on this account that I have recourse to the intercession of Thy most holy Mother, whom Thou hast given me for a mediatrix with Thee. It is through her that I hope to obtain of Thee contrition, the pardon of my sins, and the acquisition and preservation of wisdom. Hail, then, O immaculate Mary, living tabernacle of the Divinity, where the Eternal Wisdom willed to be hidden and to be adored by angels and by men! Hail, O Queen of Heaven and earth, to whose empire everything is subject which is under God. Hail, O sure refuge of sinners, whose mercy fails no one. Hear the desires which I have of the Divine Wisdom; and for that end receive the vows and offerings which in my lowliness I present to thee. I, ________________, a faithless sinner, renew and ratify today in thy hands the vows of my Baptism; I renounce forever Satan, his pomps and works; and I give myself entirely to Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom, to carry my cross after Him all the days of my life, and to be more faithful to Him than I have ever been before. In the presence of all the heavenly court I choose thee this day for my Mother and Mistress. I deliver and consecrate to thee, as thy slave, my body and soul, my goods, both interior and exterior, and even the value of all my good actions, past, present and future; leaving to thee the entire and full right of disposing of me, and all that belongs to me, without exception, according to thy good pleasure, for the greater glory of God in time and in eternity. Receive, O benignant Virgin, this little offering of my slavery, in honor of, and in union with, that subjection which the Eternal Wisdom deigned to have to thy maternity; in homage to the power which both of you have over this poor sinner, and in thanksgiving for the privileges with which the Holy Trinity has favored thee. I declare that I wish henceforth, as thy true slave, to seek thy honor and to obey thee in all things. O admirable Mother, present me to thy dear Son as His eternal slave, so that as He has redeemed me by thee, by thee He may receive me! O Mother of mercy, grant me the grace to obtain the true Wisdom of God; and for that end receive me among those whom thou lovest and teachest, whom thou leadest, nourishest and protectest as thy children and thy slaves. O faithful Virgin, make me in all things so perfect a disciple, imitator and slave of the Incarnate Wisdom, Jesus Christ thy Son, that I may attain, by thine intercession and by thine example, to the fullness of His age on earth and of His glory in Heaven. Amen. 33-Day Preparation For those who wish to prepare for this most wonderful consecration with prayer and fasting first, St. Louis de Montfort recommended a 33-Day Preparation period. To learn more on how to prepare before consecrating one-self, please visit TotalConsecration.AgeOfMary.com. You can also find the paper-back version of St. Louis de Montfort's book "True Devotion to Mary" atCatholicCompany.com.
